Monthly Archives: March 2014

You knew this was coming, right? Pre the industrial revolution we’d burn more calories in a day than Michael Phelps. Thanks to Henry Ford et al., circuit training and cardiovascular drills have been since added to our vocabulary. I confess to not being a fan of the gym. For me, counting down the minutes on a treadmill to a symphony of MTV and grunting men is to be dreaded and procrastinated. Yet, I’m not ready to trade in those barbie proportioned jeans…

So, I swapped the Northern Line for a bike. Not only do I burn off lunch, I get home earlier, having ticked off exercise and avoided half an hour squished into a random armpit.

I also discovered I quite like yoga. Not only does it tone, detoxify and burn countless calories, it calms our chatty brains. Note: Addiction. Is. Not. Zen. Or conducive to a social life or relationships. I’m all or nothing, it seems. #onetoworkon

You’ll shed pounds being cheesy in Zumba or running around a Volleyball court or football pitch. And call me crazy, but clip-in shoes and padded spandex aren’t a pre-requisite to getting on a bike. If on the other hand, you’re spurred by mastering countless triathlons, I salute you.

For more Anti-diet tips click on the Tag on the right or type Anti-diet into the Search box at the top of the page.

I’m afraid there’s no easy way to say this: fizzy drinks may in fact be the work of Satan. A 500ml bottle contains over 200 calories and a whopping 53g of sugar. That’s basically 60% of your GDA for sugar. 60%! Diet drinks fare temptingly better on the face of it: Coke Zero has as the name suggests, well, zero calories. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch as they say, and let’s not forget the tiny matter of our health:

There were press rumblings last year over artificial sweeteners such as Aspartame and their links to cancer. What’s more, diet drinks are a false economy. Duped into thinking we’ve gulped down sugar (or food), our meticulous bodies set to work on producing stomach acid and insulin… only to find there’s nothing to digest. Cue: hunger and superfluous eating.

We live in a world where the disturbing Size Zero ambition sells beauty magazines that paradoxically, sit alongside waist bulging, super-size portions of addictive fakeness. As a rule, I err away from dogmatic approaches to eating: everything in moderation, right? This is one instance where I must humbly disagree.

For more Anti-diet tips click on the Tag in the right or type Anti-diet into the Search box at the top of the page.